Open Source
Telepedia is committed to reciprocating the open-source nature that MediaWiki was founded upon. As a result, we offer all of our code available on GitLab and GitHub for public viewing. This allows people to copy, adapt, and edit our code as they see fit! It also means that should you wish to go down the same route as Telepedia, you should be able to drop our set up onto your server (or local machine), and it should run smoothly — this takes into account you'll handle the database set up yourself in accordance with MediaWiki guidelines.
Why Open Source?
The foundation of the MediaWiki software is built upon the idea of being Open Source, and the Wikimedia Foundation (henceforth the Foundation) believes that all knowledge should be freely accessible. We share the same ethos and as a result, are committed to being an Open Source company too—all of our code will be Open Source if it is possible and there is no serious need (privacy concerns, sensitive information) for it to be private.
Why are some files missing?
Some files are missing from our GitLab and GitHub repositories because they contain sensitive information that, if posted publicly, would undermine the security of our platform. Namely, the most important file includes out LocalSettings.php file, which is needed to make MediaWiki work. As a result, if you fork our repo, you still need to add your own LocalSettings file.
We are working to split the LocalSettings file into two different files, one which contains the core configuration, and one which contains the private information such as passwords etc. Once this is done, we will publish the LocalSettings file and not the private settings file and as a result, it will be much easier to understand how we do things at Telepedia.
How can I contribute?
If you think that you can improve our code, feel free to open a merge request on GitLab, or a pull-request on GitHub (PR), and we will take a look at it; you're free to improve any aspect of our codebase, from extensions, to our overall configuration. You'll note that we do not publish our LocalSettings.php file on GitLab — this is solely as it contains sensitive information and could pose a security risk if it is published; we will work to migrate the sensitive information to a different file in the future and then make our LocalSettings file available for public viewing.
Telepedia uses JetBrains products to write our code, such as PHPStorm and DataGrip, but feel free to use whatever editor you like (VSCode is a popular and free alternative).
Security Concerns
If you believe you have found a security vulnerability in any part of our code, please do not post it publicly by using our wikis or bug trackers for that; rather, please read our security page carefully, and follow the instructions.
As a quick overview, you can email security concerns to community[at]telepedia[dot]net or if you'd like, you can instead directly create a security-related task on YouTrack, but please keep the "Security" project attached to the task.